Allie Pepper's quest to climb all 14 of world's tallest peaks without bottled oxygen

If she does it, she'll make the record books.

The 48-year-old Hazelbrook adventurer reached the summit of the world's 10th highest mountain on April 14 when she conquered Mt Annapurna in Nepal (8091m).

After resting with her partner Mikel Sherpa in the city of Pokhara, she plans an attempt on the world's fifth-highest mountain, Makalu, considered by many climbers to be a more challenging peak than Everest.

Pepper aims to reach three summits in the Nepalese Spring climbing season.

She has lost close friends and colleagues to the high mountains of the Himalayas and so is climbing with safety in mind.

In May 2023 she got within 400 metres of the top of Mt Everest without bottled oxygen - but turned back. That day two other climbers also attempted the summit without supplemental oxygen. One did not return and could not be found. The other collapsed at the South Summit and had to be rescued.

"I turned around due to the wind and conditions on the mountain. It's the highest altitude an Australian woman has reached without the use of oxygen. It was the right call," Pepper said.

With Mt Annapurna behind her, she has now completed three of the 14 summits and aims to finish the challenge in under two years. She summited Broad Peak in Pakistan on July 15, 2023 and her second peak was Manaslu in Nepal in September, 2023.

"I was able to capture footage of myself looking over the top of the true summit [of Manaslu] to make sure there was no more up. That video has now been seen more than 32 million times [on instagram]."

"There are currently only two men in the world [ Ed Viesturs and Viekka Gustafsson] that have verified ascents of all 14 x 8000 metre peaks true summits without additional oxygen. They took 16 years to complete their projects.

She said she has "created this opportunity to live my dream and to set a new world record".

"Part of my mindset practice is to visualise how it feels to complete my project. I want to make my whole team proud. It's as much their achievement as it is mine."

Pepper is gaining more support in the wider global community to make her multi-million dollar dream happen.

She has now sold the home her dad left her in his will. And she's left her TAFE job and closed her abseiling and adventure training business - Allie Pepper Adventures - to complete the world record breaking peaks challenge.

Pepper readily admits that "climbing without the use of additional oxygen in the death zone is a dangerous feat".

But she is minimising the risk by climbing with the support of two experienced Sherpa climbers. Nepalese Sherpas are the undisputed strongest climbers at high altitude.

"We all have mountains to climb in our lives. I hope that by showing I can continually step forward in the face of adversity, others can too. No matter the obstacles we face."

Pepper grew up in the Blue Mountains, discovering climbing when she was 23 years old after signing up to an Outdoor Recreation course at TAFE.

"I found a career path that I enjoyed and was naturally quite good at."

She has led mountaineering and trekking expeditions to the Himalayas, making more than 40 ascents of mountains over 5000 metres.

She calls her bid from "menopause to menopeak" and says "night sweats, depression, brain fog, aching joints and struggling from recovering to training" made her feel "I might never climb again". She's now on the right medication after seeing a specialist doctor for menopause and feels normal again.

"I have been on this medication for more than two years now and all my symptoms have disappeared and I am stronger than ever.

"I'm working so hard to do it. This is my passion. I could die anywhere. We come to the planet and we have a certain amount of time that we are here and we don't know how long it is, so I might as well do what I love."

Salty Films is making a short feature documentary about her history making story.

Go to https://www.alliepepper.com/ to help.